To summarize: a canyoneer got stuck on a ledge after his brother rappelled off one end of their rope and pulled it down with him. He had some food and water and knew that after a few days the family would realize they hadn't returned.

*cough*

Though props to him for doing the absolute right thing on all counts.

Make a detailed plan and give it to someone trustworthy.
Do not deviate from said plan, unless you contact said trustworthy person and update them too.
Bring some food, water, extra clothes/o'shit-kit.
If something happens and you cannot realistically do anything, stay put.

Help will come, and this guy knew it, despite the scene below him. I'm sure that emotionally he's not doing to well.

stopper knot at the ends of the rope would have prevented it perhaps?

*cough*

Why the "*cough*"?

Because this is a climbing forum. Epoch has a thing about it.

Odd how certain people aren't jumping in to trash the OP despite it being a single link without a summary in the post...oh, that's right, this isn't Majid posting it. Sorry, my bad.

(yes, it should remain for discussion)

This thread should stay. As far as we know they were not using caynoneering specific techniques. That last thread from majid that got locked down was about someone who died because they had 20ft of slack in the line and jumped off relying on their brake hand, nothing really to discuss or learn from there. It would be beneficial for climbers to learn what caused this accident with the most likely reason being going off the end of one rope or misthreading.

I just wanted to beat Majid at his own game just once. I will never post an accident again unless it happens to me or one of my partners.

JB

This thread should stay. As far as we know they were not using caynoneering specific techniques. That last thread from majid that got locked down was about someone who died because they had 20ft of slack in the line and jumped off relying on their brake hand, nothing really to discuss or learn from there. It would be beneficial for climbers to learn what caused this accident with the most likely reason being going off the end of one rope or misthreading.

No one said it was going to disappear or get locked.

Continue discussionings....

I just wanted to beat Majid at his own game just once. I will never post an accident again unless it happens to me or one of my partners.

JB

I knew about it the minute it was a news but wanted to be sure on what went wrong before mentioning it plus, wabitt haters can't wait till i post something then they will be either destroy it, lock it or,call the 24/hr guard to detain me for crossing my probation or some other RC violation.

A detailed account of the accident can be found at
http://communique.uccs.edu/?p=3270

It appears that the rope did not quite reach the ground and one end of the rope slipped through the rappel device.

rob.calm

Odd how certain people aren't jumping in to trash the OP despite it being a single link without a summary in the post...oh, that's right, this isn't Majid posting it. Sorry, my bad.

(yes, it should remain for discussion)

This "certain person" has been away at a conference for two days, with very little spare time. I'm not a fool - if, by the time I see it, a productive thread has sprung up, I'm not going to do anything.

But seriously, is it really too much to ask of people to briefly summarize stories in this forum, rather than simply post links? If so, that's... disappointing.

This "certain person" has been away at a conference for two days, with very little spare time. I'm not a fool - if, by the time I see it, a productive thread has sprung up, I'm not going to do anything.

But seriously, is it really too much to ask of people to briefly summarize stories in this forum, rather than simply post links? If so, that's... disappointing.

A detailed account of the accident can be found at
http://communique.uccs.edu/?p=3270

It appears that the rope did not quite reach the ground and one end of the rope slipped through the rappel device.

rob.calm

There are over 55 ways to get killed from rappelling and been stuck in a canyon or any remote area surly ranks the top on the list.

OK, so they did one 40 ft. rap, followed by a 100 ft. rap and the rope was only a little short.

What I cannot figure out is how the whole rope got pulled down with the fallen person. Even if he was 10 ft. short, enough rope should not have gone through the anchor for it to "pull itself" under it's own weight.

The only thing I can think is that they were on a 50m rope.

This OP will endeavor to do better next time.

JB

What I cannot figure out is how the whole rope got pulled down with the fallen person. Even if he was 10 ft. short, enough rope should not have gone through the anchor for it to "pull itself" under it's own weight.

I thought hitting the ground ranked top of the list

I got this report the first day but did not to post in RC till I find out what went wrong.Rappelling in canyon even thought some people in RC think that is not part of rock climbing still shares the same gear and techniques and so far in 2011, almost five people have died from it. There are over 55 ways to get killed from rappelling and been stuck in a canyon or any remote area surly ranks the top on the list.

"There were 4 Rappels, the last one being 100+ feet long ...."
source: http://www.adventureplus.org/robbersroost.htm

And, meaning no disrespect to family and friends, there is this quote "There were no rope burns on Louis's hands. His glasses were still on his face when he was found. His visage was peaceful and there was no evidence of head trauma or suffering. The official cause of death is a broken pelvis."
source: http://www.bogley.com/...66-Death-in-No-Man-s

Bill L

Edit to add: The person posting the above went on to say ... "Based on these and the other details mentioned ..., we believe that he rapped off the end of the rope fully expecting to land what he perceived to be a reasonably short jump. We also believe that the most likely cause of his fatal injury was a bad landing."

So if the rappel was 130 ft. then that would pull enough rope through the anchor for the weight of the longer strand to overcome the friction at the anchor and pull the short side through.

If, however, the above quote is true and Louis only dropped a short distance, it still seems odd to me that the rope got pulled back through the anchor.

That still adds up to not a huge imbalance. Still, a little rope momentum from the dynamic fall might get things going enough. And it might be interesting to know how much a free-hanging 10 mm rope can be out of balance before it reaches the tipping point.

So if the rappel was 130 ft. then that would pull enough rope through the anchor for the weight of the longer strand to overcome the friction at the anchor and pull the short side through.

If, however, the above quote is true and Louis only dropped a short distance, it still seems odd to me that the rope got pulled back through the anchor.

I'm kind of surprised that someone didn't rehang the rope to see just how short he ended up being. Seems like that would be SOP for any basic investigation in to an accident like this.

If just looped through a single point the its not much at all. The standard 1.6x pulley factor lets you work it out. That works out to be 60% weight transferred. So you need the heavy side to be 1.666x heavier than the light side.

So for a 60m rope the tipping point is 22.5m and 37.5m. With momentum it would naturally be less.

I'm also a little confused by the quoted bit: "no evidence of head trauma or suffering. the official cause of death is a broken pelvis."

Frankly I'd think massive head trauma would be indicative of minimal suffering, not the other way around.I'd expect dying of a broken pelvis to involve a significant degree of suffering.

... calculations don't include friction with the rock which is far from insignificant. The article even mentioned a comment made about not getting a hand stuck between the rope and the rock when going over the edge, so we have reason to believe that the rope was routed over an edge with a considerable opportunity for friction.